Suffolk Mind aims to get kids moving with new book
The charity wants to highlight the benefits of movement and exercise for mental health
Last updated 4th Mar 2021
Suffolk Mind has launched a crowdfunding appeal on World Book Day to help publish a book to get children moving.
The charity is aiming to provide every Reception-aged child with a copy of Sammy the Sea Squirt.
It began as a tale told by Ezra Hewing, Head of Education, to Suffolk Mind's EARLY Minds primary school's training about a sea squirt who moves with ocean friends to look after their memory and emotions.
With support from Suffolk's Most Active County Programme, the tale has now been turned into a picture book.
It aims to highlight the importance and benefits of movement for physical and mental health, as data from Healthwatch Suffolk shows 35% of children have reported worse mental health during the pandemic.
Ezra Hewing said: "Research shows that doing just 20-30 minutes physical activity three or four times a week really helps boost our mood and protect our mental health, both because it burns off cortisol stress hormones as well as releasing the endorphin pleasure chemicals that lift our mood.
"We know that forming healthy habits when we're very young helps those habitats stay with us throughout the rest of our lives. So, helping children to do exercise and to enjoy playing and having fun is really important to protect their long-term physical and mental health."
According to research from the University of Essex in 2018, the decrease in childhood fitness has been so great that the least fit child in a class of 30 tested in 1998 would be among the five fittest in a class of 30 today.
Emma Graham, who's illustrating the project, said: "It is wonderful to be asked to work on such an important project. I love illustrating children’s books and bringing Sammy and friends to life from Ezra’s story has been fun.
"I look forward to creating the finished illustrations and book, as I know Sammy’s story will encourage children to move, exercise and have fun, and keep their brains healthy too."
Suffolk Mind has launched a Crowdfunding appeal to raise funds for the project and help publish 8,000 copies of the book to children in the county.